Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan pressed for the speedy passage of the bill that mandates local governments, particularly barangays, to allocate 15 percent of their national tax allotment share for health services.
Tan, a medical doctor, and chair of the House committee on health urged the Senate to prioritize proceedings on the measure.
Under House Bill 10392 that has been passed on third and final reading by the lower chamber, local governments are required to set aside 15 percent of their Internal Revenue Allotment to health care, including the provision of free medicines to indigent patients.
The House approved on third and final reading House Bill 10392 by a 224-0 vote.
Tan also thanked Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and the House leadership for supporting the bill’s swift passage. Tan said that “along with local development initiatives, the provision of quality, accessible, and relevant health services is enormously important, especially in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
She explained that HB10392 amends Section 287 of the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 to ensure the appropriation of at least 15 of annual national tax allotment for health services in all LGUs inasmuch as they must now undertake necessary action to prepare for the greater role and responsibilities of providing health services that they are expected to assume in the context of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling.
The proposed appropriation shall be on top of whatever is allotted for health services under the existing development projects as provided under the LGC and the Special Health Fund (SHF), a component of the Universal Health Care Act (UHC).
According to Tan, “The pandemic has underscored the important lesson that LGUs must be at the front lines of UHC implementation and every local chief executive must recognize that health is a strategic concern that must be immediately and adequately addressed because it is a prerequisite to social development.”